Swedish News Blog

SEATTLE, May 15, 2012 - KING 5 Television (NBC) aired a story last night about a study published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that looked at smoking marijuana as a treatment for spacicity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Swedish Neuroscience Institute-affiliated neurologist James Bowen, M.D., who is medical director of the new MS Center at Swedish - along with one of his patients who has experienced spacicity relief from this treatment - were interviewed for the two-minute piece.

SEATTLE, May 9, 2012 - Washington state hospitals, physicians and expectant mothers have teamed up to deliver a dramatic increase in the number of babies born at full term – 39 weeks – instead of earlier in their pregnancies. They did this by rapidly changing established obstetric practices in place for many years. This change came about because of new research demonstrating the short- and long-term hazards of delivery prior to 39 weeks.

SEATTLE, April 30, 2012 - Swedish Employer Medical Assistance (EMA) was recently featured in a Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ) article published April 27 about the program and the services it provides to the cruise-ship, maritime and industrial companies throughout the region.

EMA Medical Director Ray Jarris, M.D., and Program Manager Laura Walden - along with a few EMA client representatives - were interviewed for the piece.

SEATTLE, April 16, 2012 – A free seminar about living kidney donation will be held Tuesday, April 24 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Glaser Auditorium on Swedish Medical Center’s First Hill campus (747 Broadway, first floor).

SEATTLE – April 6, 2012 – Swedish Neuroscience Institute (SNI) is set to open its new MS Center to patients. Carefully designed for easy accessibility and to promote the well-being of people with MS, the new 11,700-square-foot center gives SNI the ability to consolidate all of its MS services into one facility. An additional 1,500-square-feet of outside therapy terrace will provide a safe environment for patients to work with a therapist on improving their gait over different terrain.

The new center also enables scientists, researchers, physicians and patients to work collaboratively toward new treatment options for those diagnosed with MS. In a move that further establishes Swedish’s neuroscience program as a leader in the region, the MS Center at Swedish is the largest, most comprehensive facility of its kind on the West Coast and one of only a handful in the country.

SEATTLE, March 30, 2012 - Seattle NBC affiliate KING Television (Channel 5) aired a story during their 5 p.m. PT newscast tonight about a relatively new, FDA-approved medical device called LifeVest ®. The wearable defibrillator is a treatment option for sudden cardiac arrest that offers patients advanced protection and monitoring as well as improved quality of life.

LifeVest is the first wearable defibrillator. Unlike an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), the LifeVest is worn outside the body rather than implanted in the chest. This device continuously monitors the patient's heart with dry, non-adhesive sensing electrodes to detect life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms. If a life-threatening rhythm is detected, the device alerts the patient prior to delivering a treatment shock, and thus allows a conscious patient to delay the treatment shock. If the patient becomes unconscious, the device releases a Blue™ gel over the therapy electrodes and delivers an electrical shock to restore normal rhythm.

SEATTLE, March 27, 2012 – Colorectal cancer doesn’t broadcast its presence until it’s too late. Swedish Health Services hopes to change that by getting the word out about safe and effective prevention options.

On Wednesday, March 28, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (PST), Swedish physicians and staff will host its first-ever online chat and video stream of a colonoscopy procedure. The stream will be made available online at www.swedish.org/colonlive.

In the United States today, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women. It is estimated that 51,000 people will die of the disease this year and 143,000 new cases will be diagnosed.

SEATTLE, March 21, 2012 – In the closing weeks of 2011, Swedish opened the largest, most advanced endoscopy center in the Pacific Northwest on the First Hill campus in Seattle. The 21,600-square-foot, state-of-the-art unit serves as the procedural space for a broad range of minimally invasive cases performed by gastroenterologists, colo-rectal specialists, thoracic and bariatric surgeons and pulmonologists on patients with a broad range of digestive and respiratory diseases.

“This uniquely designed space offers physicians and surgeons from diverse specialties and practices the opportunity to bring their patients the highest level of care in a collaborative, safe and comfortable environment that is easily accessed, spacious and welcoming,” said Swedish Chief Medical Officer John Vassall, M.D.

The new unit was completed just over a year after Swedish Medical Group formed Swedish Gastroenterology – a new, employed gastroenterology, hepatology and endoscopy service that brought together several local gastroenterologists in one Swedish-based group dedicated to providing patients with the highest level specialty and subspecialty care available. Founded by Drs. Drew Schembre and Jack Brandabur, Swedish Gastroenterology was created to bring ...

SEATTLE, March 7, 2012 - Today Crosscut.com posted an article by free-lance journalist and Seattle-based stringer for the New York Times Collin Tong titled, 'Seattle's global health powerhouses turn their attention to south King County.' The almost 1,900-word piece provided an update on the Global to Local (G2L)initiative that Swedish has been supporting over the last two years.

G2L is a coalition of local and global health groups that have banded together to bring the lessons they've learned in developing countries to south King County, where the health index is as bad as Nairobi ...

ISSAQUAH, WASH., March 6, 2012 – In 2010 the Swedish Orthopedic Institute (SOI) became the first facility in the Puget Sound area to perform MAKOplasty®, a new partial knee resurfacing procedure designed to treat early- to mid-stage osteoarthritis. This procedure, which may be a viable alternative to total knee replacement or traditional manual partial knee resurfacing, is now available at Swedish/Issaquah.

“We are really pleased we can offer Eastside residents access to this state-of-the-art technology,” said SOI-affiliated orthopedic surgeon Gregory Komenda, M.D., who is with Proliance Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine. “We believe MAKOplasty offers an alternative for osteoarthritis patients who have not responded to non-surgical treatments or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.”